Just One More Minute
by dfcfanfics
Summary: An Akuma fight, ranging all over Paris for hours, is finally over... and Ladybug and Chat are beyond exhausted. The Miraculous are beeping, and they know they have to get out of range of the crowd - and each other. But it'd be so nice to stop on this rooftop here for just... a tiny little moment... One-shot. Inspired by artwork by Ladybeug on Tumblr, so look her up, please!


MiraculElse #12: Just One More Minute...

by DFC

Inspired by artwork by Ladybeug on Tumblr (see notes at the end!)

* * *

"Miraculous... LADYBUG!"

As the Lucky Charm dissolved into magical sparkles and began to heal the widespread damage caused by the superbrawl, Ladybug wished it well. _FIVE HOURS, we've been battling that thing... good luck, little Charm, you've got a ton of work to do,_ she smiled.

She sank to her knees, her eyes closing, thoroughly exhausted. "Chat... can you..." she gasped.

"Already... on it... my Lady," Chat mumbled back, standing by a nondescript man who looked very surprised to be there. "Checks out. He seems okay. You're... okay?" he asked.

"I... think so, thank you," the man answered. "Why is it dark out?"

"It's after eight o'clock," Ladybug replied, standing up once more and regretting it somewhat. _I need to keep moving or I'm going to collapse,_ she thought. "We've been chasing you all over Paris since two-thirty. You're going to have a blank spot in your memory; it happens all the time with Akumatizations."

"Whoa," the man gasped. "Sorry about that!"

"It's okay," Chat half-smiled. "We needed the exercise. Just... think about... whatever was bringing you down today... and work on that, okay?"

The first warning beep from each Miraculous distracted the heroes. "Chat... we've gotta..." Ladybug sighed.

"Uh-huh," Chat nodded. "Shall we?"

"Once I can... think," she muttered back.

Chat watched her wobble, unsteadily, and despite his own exhaustion knew what he had to do. As he approached Ladybug, he whispered, "Hold still," and she felt herself being scooped up in his arms.

"What are you doing?" she whispered back.

"Getting us a little privacy," he said. "We can't transform here."

Her silent nod showed that she understood, and she went mostly limp. With a mighty leap, Chat hurtled towards a nearby rooftop, intent on putting at least some distance between the crowd and the two of them.

* * *

He made it about a city block before his own muscles gave out. Carefully, he lowered Ladybug to a sitting position, then slumped down next to her. Her head flopped onto his shoulder, which any other time would've had him tingling; at this point, though, his nerve endings had previous engagements.

"Ch-hat?" Ladybug mumbled.

"I just need... one second. Just a quick rest... just... just for a little bit..." he panted, helplessly.

The second beep roused them, but only briefly. Tiny voices in the back of their subconscious minds shouted at them to focus.

"We gotta get up," mumbled Ladybug.

"Ugh. Yeah," Chat agreed, then joined Ladybug in doing absolutely nothing about it.

Another moment passed in silence.

"God... I'm so tired," Ladybug gasped, struggling to stay awake.

"We're gonna detransform," Chat warned her.

"I... don't know if I even care anymore," she sighed. His shoulder was just too comfortable. It might have been the best shoulder that she'd ever felt in her life. Almost like a soft... leathery... pillow...

The third beep sent substantially more alarm through Chat. "Ladybug?" he whispered.

He heard a very faint noise in return, low and steady.

_Well, whaddya know,_ he thought, with some of the last of his conscious mind. _Ladybug snores. I was sure that I wouldn't find that out without marrying her._

_I can't just leave her here, alone on a roof... and I don't know that I could move from this spot if I wanted to._

_What am I going to _do_?_

* * *

Marinette began to stir, slightly. She was reluctant, both from exhaustion and because she'd been having the most _interesting_ dream about her Adrien. The latter was a common enough occurrence, however, that she knew that she'd pick that up where she'd left off soon enough.

She snuggled up against the pillows she was wrapped up against. They felt warm, inviting and molded to her form. There was a chill in the air; _did I wiggle out from under the sheets during the night? _she wondered. Her response to was cuddle up even closer to...

_Marinette..._

_Marinette, you only have one pillow for your head on your bed._

_What is it that you're holding onto?_

Flickers of consciousness began to strike her brain like little lightning bolts.

_You were out fighting an Akuma with Chat... it took FOREVER..._

_You won... You were about to collapse... Chat carried you away._

_You were about to transform._

_YOU WERE ABOUT TO TRANSFORM!?_

Her eyes flew open... and saw nothing but blackness.

* * *

"Ladybug!" a tiny voice hissed. _"Don't reach up to your face!"_

The command stopped her left hand from moving, which was already halfway there.

"Tikki?" Marinette whispered. "Is that you?"

_"Yes!_ Stay still. You're not in danger right now, I promise," her Kwami said in a low voice. "I'll explain."

"Tikki?" asked Marinette, after a moment of thought. "How is it that I'm talking to you right now?"

"Because you're not Ladybug right now," sighed Tikki. "But, don't panic, you're _safe!_ Now, listen to me, so that I can keep you that way."

Marinette nodded, ever so slightly.

"You're on a rooftop. You passed out and went to sleep," Tikki explained, "on your third beep. Chat had no time to move you, he wouldn't leave you here alone, and he was too tired to leave, anyway."

"Okay..." she replied, with mounting alarm.

"So... you have a blindfold on. And so does he."

"A blindfold? What is it, his belt-tail?" asked Marinette, who then gasped. "_Wait!_ Are you telling me that I'm myself and I'm... _lying on top of Chat Noir?_"

"Not... exactly? _Don't take it off!"_ hissed Tikki, seeing Marinette's hand moving again. It stopped moving upwards towards her face, and touched the warm body she was next to, instead. It came to rest on his upper chest, and she felt light cotton, not thick leather.

"Where did the blindfolds come from?" she wondered aloud. She reached up and felt his shoulders, very gently; what she felt was a T-shirt of some kind, from what she could tell. As her hand slid downwards, tentatively, she felt a rough edge, as if it had been ripped apart... and then warm, bare skin, with a small depression in it.

"_Oh!_" she cried, jerking her hand upwards before coming near any kind of uncharted territory. The skin-to-skin contact made the other person jump slightly, as well.

* * *

"L-Ladybug?" Adrien gasped, in a shallow voice.

_He's trying to disguise his voice, just a little_, Marinette thought. _Smart. I'll do that, too._

"Yeah... it's me," she mumbled. "Chat?"

"Guilty as charged," he said. "Your blindfold worked?"

"Y-yes, it did," Marinette confirmed. "That was really good thinking, Chat."

"I couldn't leave you alone on a strange rooftop, wondering if anyone had found you like that," Adrien replied. "This way, you at least had me to watch over you. Well, not watch; I'm blindfolded, too."

"So I'm told. What did I just... feel?" murmured Marinette.

"My belly button. It tickled," he chuckled, nervously. "That woke me up."

"_Oh_," she gasped back.

"It's okay. You couldn't see, and you didn't touch anywhere... weird, trust me," said Adrien.

"I don't care, I'm blushing like a traffic light right now," giggled Marinette. "I'm not in the habit of feeling up strange boys."

"I'm no stranger, am I? I'm your partner," argued Adrien.

"You're strange. I don't think you can argue that," she laughed.

"Touche."

Marinette thought for a moment and the light bulb went on over her head. "Ahhh... you tore your shirt, and that's what's over our eyes?" she asked.

"It was all I could think of. My belt would've disappeared with my costume," Adrien reasoned. "You were out like a light, and I was about to pass out, too, and..."

"You did great. Thank you, Chat," she beamed. Without thinking, she snuggled in close again. "My hero."

"My pleasure, my Lady," he replied, warmly. "Though it _does_ sound strange to hear you call me Chat when I'm my normal self."

"Yeah... it does, doesn't it? The same goes for me," Marinette agreed. "And I have to admit... this feels awfully good cuddling like this, but maybe I should..."

"...Check our situation?" asked Adrien. "How about this; roll over, and we'll go back to back. Then we can at least sneak a tiny peek without seeing each other."

They accomplished the shuffle, and each poked their blindfold up the tiniest bit...

* * *

"Whoa! It's so dark!" gasped Marinette.

"How long do you think we were sleeping?" Adrien wondered.

"About six hours," a tiny voice replied. Adrien kept his eyes focused straight ahead, and saw a tiny red Kwami flit in front of his face.

"Yeah," Plagg agreed, floating in front of Marinette. "We were beginning to wonder if we should go find you two a blanket or something."

"Oh! Hello, Plagg," Marinette said, brightly. "Nice to see you again."

Adrien looked mildly puzzled. "You two have met?" he asked.

"Style Queen," explained Marinette. "You... whoever you are... were out of commission for a while, remember? Plagg came and helped me that day."

"Ohhh," Adrien replied, the pieces fitting together. "And that means... you must be Tikki?"

"Nice to finally meet you in person," she grinned back. "I've known who you are, but I hadn't had an opportunity to say hello like this."

"Likewise," he smiled. "Do you know what time it is?"

"It's a little before three in the morning," Tikki said.

"Yikes!" Marinette exclaimed. "I, uh... I am going to be in _so much_ trouble when I get home... that means I've been gone for, what, about twelve hours without any word?"

"My father's probably sending out search parties," agreed Adrien, sounding very nervous.

"We'll try to help you cover for that, if we can," Plagg noted. "For now, both of you have ways into your houses other than the front door and I suggest that you use 'em. 'I don't know what you mean, Dad, I was upstairs and sleeping the whole time...'," he suggested.

"Think they'll buy it?" asked Adrien.

"Do we have a choice but to try?" Marinette sighed. "Okay. Tikki, Plagg, are you two okay to transform?"

"We are," confirmed Tikki. "You keep those emergency snacks in your purse, and we found them a while ago."

"I don't suppose you could start carrying Camembert in there, for just such an emergency...?" asked Plagg. "It was just a thought."

"Anyway, we can transform... but you two have to say the words, of course. Which is why we've been waiting like this," Tikki said. "So, blindfolds down until that's done?"

The pair covered their eyes once more. Adrien took a breath, and said, "Plagg... claws-"

"Wait."

* * *

"Wait?" repeated Adrien, not following her. "What is it, Ladybug?"

"Your eyes are covered, right? Roll over my way for just a second," she directed him.

He did so, hearing her turn as well. "Okay, now... what?"

Small, warm hands reached out and felt for him, moving up to his face, touching his cheeks and resting against them..

"Ladybug? What are you doing?" he asked, breathlessly.

"This."

* * *

Soft lips touched his, very lightly, sending electricity running all through Adrien.

"_That's_ for protecting me and taking care of me like you did, Chat," Marinette whispered. "That means a lot to me."

"My pleasure," Adrien whispered back, stunned beyond belief. "I'd always... wondered what that would feel like."

"That also came to mind," she giggled. "Spots on!"

"Claws out!"

Once each had transformed, they removed the blindfolds. Ladybug couldn't help examining hers; it was plain black cotton, nothing that would be particularly identifying.

Chat grinned at his partner... and was just as astonished when she leaned forward once more, this time pecking him on the cheek.

"What was _that_ one for?" he asked, hopefully.

"_That's_ for not peeking," Ladybug grinned back.

"How do you know that I didn't sneak a peek?" smirked Chat.

"Because I know what the look on your face would be right now if you had," parried Ladybug. "And... because I know you better than that."

"True on both counts," admitted Chat. "It was the temptation of a lifetime... but if you're ever ready, you'll tell me."

"You'll know when," she smiled. "And, Chat... thank you again... and sweet dreams."

"I know who'll be in them," he replied... and then each headed for home.

* * *

Marinette snuck into her bedroom as silently as she could manage, saying a little silent prayer of thanks once she saw that neither parent was camped out in her room.

Quickly, she changed into her pajamas, then tiptoed downstairs to check the situation. Sure enough, she saw a large figure on the couch in the living room, snoring quietly.

_Here goes nothing,_ she grinned. She padded over and shook his shoulder gently, causing him to wake up with a start.

"Daddy... why are you sleeping on the couch?" she asked, putting on her most innocent face. "I know you didn't forget your anniversary; that's not 'til next month."

* * *

"Well... look what the cat dragged in."

Marinette stared back at Alya, who'd been standing in the lobby of their school, waiting for her... then smiled. "Yeah... it was a very long night."

_It took a lot of fast talking for my dad to accept "Oh, I'd gone upstairs after school and fallen asleep, I must've slept right through dinner, I was so zonked out..." and I'm not sure that he bought it entirely,_ she thought._ But it at least got him to trudge back up to his room, and Mom and Dad don't think I was out all night running with vicious biker gangs or something._

She deflected most of Alya's questions on their way in, redirecting the small talk to other topics. As they entered the classroom, they greeted Nino, who seemed pleased to see them... and Adrien, who also seemed pleased but wasn't his usual bright-eyed self. A cup of coffee sat on the desk in front of him, half-empty already.

"That's kind of a new look for you, isn't it?" noted Alya, looking at Adrien. Marinette followed her gaze, and saw Adrien's usual white dress shirt... with a black Jagged Stone concert shirt underneath it, instead of his usual black-with-stripes attire.

"Y-yeah! Our... washing machine broke down," Adrien replied, "and my usual shirt had a stain on it, so I thought I'd mix it up a little bit."

"Fair enough," she smiled as she headed up to her seat. Marinette gave him a slightly puzzled look as she ascended to hers, but said nothing.

"You do look really tired, though. Nino didn't keep you up talking all last night, did he?" Alya added.

"Oh, no, it wasn't him. I just had... something on my mind," grinned Adrien.

Alya looked over at Marinette, whose calculating expression seemed to have doubled in intensity. She pointed back and forth between the two of them and mouthed _You DIDN'T...?_, which knocked Marinette right out of that thought process and into a series of silent, frantic denials.

Meanwhile, all Adrien could do was smile, dreamily...

_Tired?_

_My Ladybug - the REAL Ladybug, the girl underneath - kissed me last night. For real._

_I may never sleep again._

* * *

~fin~

* * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This story was directly inspired by a wonderful drawing by _ Ladybeug_ on Tumblr. However, FFN is somewhat... challenged when it comes to allowing the posting of external links, and it's not very easy to link pictures directly, either.

So I encourage you to look up:

1) _ Ladybeug_ on Tumblr (that's ladybeug plus tumblr plus com, spelled just like that, for those playing at home) to see this and other art of hers:

or

2) _ dfcfanfics_ on Tumblr (you know the drill) to see my reblogging of it.


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